Technology
She raised concerns about her company's contracts with ICE. Then she lost her job

April 21, 2026 5:00 AM ET
By Jude Joffe-Block


Masked agents stand at an intersection during an ICE immigration enforcement operation in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 31. Some employees of Thomson Reuters, which has a major presence in the Twin Cities, became concerned about the company's contracts to supply data to ICE as the Trump administration's immigration surge in Minnesota intensified.
Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images

During Billie Little's roughly two decades working at Thomson Reuters, she felt pride in the company, which is known for its legal database Westlaw, its media company Reuters, and its role as a major data broker.

Vice President JD Vance gave remarks while standing in front of ICE agents following a roundtable discussion with local leaders and community members amid a surge of federal immigration authorities in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

But as masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swarmed Minneapolis early this year and the country reeled from federal agents fatally shooting Renée Macklin Good and Alex Pretti, Little and other colleagues grew alarmed that ICE agents could be abusing Thomson Reuters investigative tools that provide vast quantities of personal data on people including license plate information.

Little, who worked in legal publishing, was part of a committee of employees that sent a letter to company management in February flagging that ICE could be using Thomson Reuters products unlawfully and asking for greater transparency about the company's oversight of its contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Soon after their effort was made public in the media, however, Little was fired from her role.

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Correction
April 21, 2026

A previous version of this story misspelled Billie Little's first name as Billy in one instance.